A Malec Story

Chapter 40: Twenty third meet

Magnus

Magnus woke up to the sun shining in his face. He opened his eyes and realized they had failed to close the curtains last night, when they'd come home. Too exhausted to do anything but fall on the bed and sleep. He turned around in the bed and looked at Alec lying next to him. He was sleeping. It was the first time, Magnus thought, that he was up before Alec in the morning.

Alec looked young and very pretty in the sunlight. His lashes incredibly long, brushing the soft skin under his eyes. His hair disheveled. He had one arm lying over the covers and Magnus appreciated the swell of his biceps visible where his shirt rode up almost to his shoulder. A black permanent Mark swirling down from there, following the line of the muscle.

Magnus wondered why Alec was here, why he hadn't gone home with his parents. Something had happened to Alec while in Idris. Something that had awakened him somehow. The determination with which he had kissed Magnus in the Hall of Accords yesterday had shown that. And again last night his decision to come with Magnus, instead of heading home. What would his parents think? Magnus felt Alec didn't seem to care about that, he was free and made his own decisions on his own terms. It made Magnus extremely happy.

He propped himself up on one elbow and carefully smoothed Alec's hair back over his forehead. Alec moved at the touch but didn't wake up. Magnus felt a rush of affection looking down at him, his heart swelling. How much I love you.

It must be half way through the morning, judging by the light. Magnus sat up and stretched, thinking about last night and Jace. He remembered Alec's distraction during the fight, something wrong with his parabatai rune. Magnus hadn't liked the way Jace had looked when they had found him at the shore of Lake Lynn. He wanted to go to the hospital to check on him, see if he could find what it was that kept nagging in the back of his head. Something was wrong.

He jumped out of the bed, suddenly impatient, and headed for the shower. Wearing only a fluorescent pair of tight fitting shorts, he walked back into the bedroom ten minutes later. Alec had his eyes open and stared at him, blinking. "Ouch," he said, his voice hoarse from sleep, "That color hurts my eyes."

"You want me to take it off?" Magnus inquired, quirking up an eyebrow.

Alec laughed. "No," he said while sitting up. "Come here, I'll take it off."

Magnus walked up to the bed, smiling down at his boyfriend and cupped his chin. "I'd love it, truly. But I want to go check on Jace. See if he's woken up."

The laughter went out of Alec's eyes and he nodded. "Yeah, off course. Can I come? I want to know, too."

"Of course you can come, why are you asking me?" Magnus said. He bent over and pressed a kiss on Alec's lips. "But I'll take a rain check on you taking off my shorts," he said.

They got dressed and headed to the hospital. Next to Jace's room Magnus found brother Zachariah, looking through the window. Magnus followed his gaze to see Maryse Lightwood sitting next to Jace on a chair. Alec walked into the room and approached his mother.

"You've been here all night?" He asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," Maryse looked up at her son, looking extremely tired. "I couldn't leave him alone, not knowing what might happen to him."

Magnus looked at brother Zachariah. "He's been like this all night? No changes?"

Nothing. The voice of brother Zachariah echoed in Magnus's head. Silent Brothers didn't speak, they communicated with the mind.

"You sound worried," Magnus said, surprised. He didn't know Silent Brothers could worry, to begin with. Then again, this was Zachariah, he wasn't like the other brothers.

He's a Herondale. Of course I'm worried. Zachariah spoke. Will's descendant. And Tessa's. Magnus heard by the way he said those names, how much Zachariah loved them. In life, Will had been his parabatai. And Tessa. Well, Tessa and her boys. It was a weird triangle. They all had loved each other so much.

"You were a parabatai once," he said, "Alec had felt something with his rune yesterday. What could that mean?"

Zachariah turned his head towards him, barely visible underneath the hood of his parchment colored cape. What did he feel? It could be that Jace was wounded, but it's not normal to feel anything if the other is wounded. That would be too much of an inconvenience during a fight. Will felt it when I turned to become a Silent Brother. And I felt it when he died. A snap. As if a cord was cut. But it was muted by my Brotherhood Runes.

"I don't know what he felt, you'd have to ask him," Magnus said and looked at Alec. Alec had pulled his mother from the chair, telling her to go home and get some sleep.

"I'll stay with Jace," he said. Maryse obediently walked to the door where she came to a stop to regard Magnus and Zachariah.

"I'm going home now," she said to Zachariah. "You'll let me know when he wakes or when something's wrong?"

Zachariah nodded and Maryse turned to Magnus. "And you, if you can do anything? Anything at all, to wake up my son. I'll pay you for it."

Magnus looked into the blue eyes, so similar to Alec's, but paled with grief and exhaustion. "You don't have to pay me anything. I'll do what I can for Jace."

She nodded and walked away, her heels clicking softly on the linoleum hospital floor. Magnus and Zachariah entered the room and walked towards the bed. Magnus put his hand on Jace's forehead and whispered a revealing spell, trying to find out what it was that kept Jace unconscious. Zachariah turned to Alec.

Magnus told me you felt something with the parabatai rune last night?

Alec nodded. He sat in the chair where Maryse had sat earlier, holding Jace's hand. "It was during the fight. It all happened really fast. I felt the rune flare up, suddenly. And I knew something was wrong with Jace, but I didn't know what."

Very strange indeed, said brother Zachariah, I don't know what it might entail. Can you find anything, Magnus Bane?

Magnus lifted his head and nodded. "He is drained. Not just physically, but psychologically, too. However, I do expect him to wake up soon."

His eyes met Alec's, who looked relieved. He let of Jace and stood up. "That's good to know. I'm going to get us some coffee, okay?"

Alec left and Zachariah went after him. They just left the room when Jace stirred and opened his eyes. Magnus hovered over him and looked intently at him. Worried and curious what he would find in them.

"Magnus?" Jace spoke, and he sounded absurdly normal. "What are you doing here?"

Magnus shook his head, exasperated. "Enjoying the scenery," he replied. "How are you feeling? Any pain in the chest?"

Jace looked down at his bandaged chest and touched it gingerly. "Not really," he said, "Though I feel a bit worn out."

"I'd say so," Magnus said. "I've investigated you carefully. Clary told me what happened. How Valentine cut you and the Angel healed you. But though you're physically healed, your spirit and mind are exhausted to the point where only rest can heal you. You have to stay in bed today."

"Jace!" Alec appeared in the doorway, holding two cups of coffee. "You're awake!"

He hasted inside, handed one cup to Magnus and bend over his parabatai. "How are you feeling?"

"Frustrated," Jace answered, "Magnus told me I'm not allowed to leave."

"Of course not," Alec said, "You nearly died. You can't expect to get up and walk out after that."

"Well, why not. We should party now that we won the war," Jace said.

Magnus nodded. "You're right. We should," he looked around in the small hospital room, "Now who's the head of the party committee. I have some great decoration ideas."

Alec looked at him incredulously but Jace laughed. "Now we're talking."

Magnus left them alone, after saying he'd send someone to the Lightwoods to tell them Jace had woken up. He meant what he said. After a war it was only normal to celebrate. And he was one of the best when it came to parties. He was going to host this one.